Finding the Grangers
by coolhacker1025
Summary: Harry and Hermione take a trip down to Australia to retrieve her parents. What they find is unexpected, but welcome. H/Hr, EWE. I took the old version down, as most of the reviews referred to a plot point that I have removed


Meeting the Grangers

Canon (except for the Epilogue)

"We have our passports now, Hermione," said Harry, as they left Gringotts. "I say that we book tickets to Australia to find them."

"Great idea, Harry," responded Hermione. They went to Heathrow, where they found the Qantas terminal.

"We'd like two tickets to Sydney, Australia, please," Harry told the woman at the ticket counter.

"I can do that for you," said the ticket counter attendant pleasantly. "We have a flight through Dubai leaving at 2200 hrs and arriving on Wednesday at 0700 local time."

"What is the price for that?" asked Harry. He'd never been on a plane before, so he was unsure how expensive it would be. The Goblins charged him about £50,000 for the damage to the bank, and a further £2,000 for the passports. He also knew that he carried a high bank balance.

"£1661 total for economy class or £16,336 total for first class," said the woman.

"We'll take the First Class seats, together," said Hermione, handing over Harry's credit card (which was linked to his Gringotts account).

The attendant looked in shock at the card. The card, by its very design, indicated that he didn't just have cash: he had a gigantic pile of cash. She didn't know just how right she was. She almost wished that she hadn't already told them the price: she could've probably added a couple of 'fees' onto their fare.

"I'll need your passports," said the attendant, slightly flustered. "You're both British, so you get visas on arrival at the airport, assuming that you are going for tourist purposes."

She put their information into the fairly new computer she'd been given, and printed out their tickets. "You'll be at Terminal 3, Gate 7," she said, handing back their passports, and giving them their tickets. "Arrive two hours early, and check-in at the desk down there. Any luggage exceeding the limits specified on your ticket will not be allowed and/or you will have to pay a fee of £20 per excess kilogram."

"Thank you very much," said Hermione. They walked away. "That was great that they had two seats available."

"According to the ticket, it isn't as much two seats, but a whole suite," said Harry. "Fairly fancy."

They arrived at the airport that evening at 20:00, carrying enough luggage for a few days stay in Australia.

"Checking in for the 2200 to Australia," said Harry when they got to the check-in counter.

"Mr Potter and Miss Granger," said the man at the counter. "Please place your bags up here." He indicated a scale. "Okay, so you are checked in," he said after punching a couple of keys on the keyboard. "As holders of First-Class tickets, you may use the lounge. One piece of advice, the people in Dubai don't like it if you show up drunk. It's against their religion or something."

"We don't drink, Sir, but thank you for the advice," said Harry, as the man handed them back their passports, their tickets and their boarding passes.

They gave their bags to the next attendant, and made their way through security. They made it through with no problems, as they each had minimal hand luggage. In reality, Hermione had an anti-Muggle charm over her handbag, which was located in her hand luggage. In it were their wands and other magical possessions.

They had refreshments in the Qantas lounge, and boarded the plane a couple of hours later. It was a very nice luxury suite, with satellite television and comfy chairs. After everyone was boarded, the flight attendants came over the screen with the safety message.

A couple of minutes later, the engines started to roar, and the airplane started to move. It didn't really feel like they were throttling through the air at just under 1000 kph.

A couple of hours later, they had a refuelling stopover in Dubai, where they were questioned by the local authorities.

"It's just a routine thing, Mr Potter," said the customs agent. "You and your travelling companion's transit visas are approved."

"Thank you," replied Harry.

They were able to deplane, so they went into the lounge and got some refreshments before having to get on the plane again.

Another hour into the flight, the stewardesses brought around their food for the flight. After he finished eating, Harry got some sleep. When he woke up, he noticed that Hermione had gotten some sleep as well.

"What time is it?" asked Hermione as she woke up.

"I don't know," said Harry. "My watch is still on London time."

They looked at the display, and saw that they were coming up on Australia. They were still a few hours from Sydney.

"I can't imagine having to take this flight with children," said Hermione.

"It's too bad _Concorde _can't do this route," said Harry. "Why don't they?"

"I think it goes over too much land," said Hermione. "Also, it's much too long a distance—Concorde only has a range of 7000 km, and London to Sydney is 17,000 km. Even the Boeings don't have that type of distance, hence the refuelling stop in Dubai. If my maths is correct, though, it would only take 8.5 hours to go from London to Sydney, assuming cruising speed on _Concorde_."

After yet another 2.5 hours, they landed in Sydney, and got their bags at the carousel. They went over to the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service desk, and the attendant scanned their passports.

"Mr Potter, Miss Granger, if you'll follow these gentlemen, please," said the Passport officer, who handed over their passports to the two ACBP officers standing behind the desk.

The two men led Harry and Hermione to a back room.

"It's okay, Mr Potter, Miss Granger," said the officer on the left. "I'm Agent Toby Mattingley of the Australian Aurors."

"The Aurors?" asked Hermione.

"We intercept any people from the Wizarding World who bother to take planes, ma'am," said Agent Mattingley. "We want to make sure that our Muggle counterparts don't rough you up too bad."

"Purpose of your trip?" asked the second officer. He was tall and broad, and looked like he could lift 200 kg easily.

"Here to locate two British nationals who came through here about a year ago," said Hermione.

"I'll put that down as 'Tourist purposes'." said the first agent. "I'll admit, that was right clever of you, Miss Granger, getting your parents Wizarding Passports. They came through us, we were able to Forge them work permits and the like. It would've been nice for you to tell us, though."

"Sorry, sir," said Hermione. "We didn't know who to trust at that point."

"It'll still cost you," said the Agent. "I'm putting down that you need to pay us a fine of AU$1000 or about ₲120."

"You do realise that if you'd made it through Muggle Customs, they would've made life very hard for you?" asked Agent two. "You have no mortgage, seemingly no ties to the UK aside from your school, an absolutely massive amount of cash in the bank. They would've accused you of attempting to come here to live."

He stamped their passports after waving his wand. "Good, no contraband," he said. "You're free to go. Car hire is on the ground level."

They went to the Budget car hire, and hired a BMW for their trip to the Government Buildings in Sydney.

When they got to the government buildings, they went in, and identified themselves.

"You're expected, Mr Potter," said the receptionist. "The Minister would like to speak to both of you. His office is on the top floor, take the lift."

The took the lift. As was usual in the Wizarding World, the building was much bigger on the inside. Case-in-point, although the Government Buildings, which were cleverly disguised as a warehouse, looked to be about 20 storeys tall, there were 200 floors on the lift.

"Top floor, please," said Harry to the attendant.

"Yessir," said the attendant as he pushed the button, and the lift roared to life. Less than twenty seconds later, the attendant was escorting them from the lift.

"Come in," hollered a voice from an office directly in front of the lift. "Come in!"

They went into the office, and found themselves face-to-face with a large man who looked like he belonged on the local Rugby team. He came over to them.

"G'day, mates," he said with a smile. "I'm Minister without portfolio, The Minister of Magic Andrew McDonnell."

They shook his hand. "I thank you for getting rid of that Dark Lord that was plaguing you lot. We was all afraid that he'd come looking down 'ere soon enough," said the Minister. "Due to your cleverness with your parent's passports, we have been able to keep a watch on them. Discreet protection 24 hours a day."

"Thank you," said Hermione. "I hadn't really thought things through."

"It was nothing," said Minister McDonnell. "Kept the Aurors busy with something other than the Roos. The bloody animals almost got discovered by the Muggles. Again."

"The Muggles know all about kangaroos, sir," said Hermione.

"Yeah, but they don't know that they's magic, now do they?" asked the Minister. "The bloody things can do this Apparating thing. Most wildlife found in Australia is poisonous, magical or both, mate."

"Where are the Grangers?" asked Harry.

"Well, they're a couple of blocks away," said the Minister. "Over in Paddington. They have a dental office there. I'll have my secretary get you the details on the way out."

"Perhaps directions as well?" suggested Hermione. "We don't know the area at all."

"Of course," said the Minister. "I'll get that to you straightaway. Now, what happened to that pommy bloke Scrimgeour? He was a nice bloke despite spamming my Floo with requests for Australian Aurors."

"He was killed quite early on in the Occupation," replied Harry. "When the Death Eaters took over, they killed him almost immediately. Then started sending Muggle-borns to Azkaban and Concentration Camps."

"I knew something was off when I met that next pom," said the Minister. "Didn't seem right to me."

"Now we have Kingsley Shacklebolt," replied Hermione. "Former Auror. You'd probably like him."

Just then, there was a knock at the door, and a woman wearing what seemed to be a pantsuit with robes walked in.

"Here's the information you requested, SIR," said the woman, saluting.

"At ease, Lieutenant," said the Minister, who returned the salute and took the manila folder of documents from her. She quickly left the room. "Just graduated the Academy last year. She doesn't do things normally yet."

He looked at the clock, and then looked through the documents in the folder. "Your parents should still be at the office, Miss Granger, but you should hurry if you want to meet them there. Otherwise, there's directions to their home address."

"Thank you, Mr Minister," said Harry and Hermione.

"Thank you for getting that bastard done with," said the Minister, ushering them to the door.

The two left the office, and went to their car. "That was really convenient," said Harry.

"I'm glad they got Magical passports," said Hermione. "Otherwise the whole thing would've fallen apart, they would have been found with false documents that they didn't even know were fake, and they would've been banned ten years or more."

They followed the directions listed on the sheet, and were at the Dentists' in five minutes. They walked in and approached the secretary.

"Ma'am, we need to see Drs Wilkins, please," said Harry, as he was much better at lying than Hermione.

"Why do you need to see them?" asked the secretary.

"We need to speak to them," said Harry, putting a slight Compulsion Charm on his words. "There is a tooth emergency."

"I will bring you to them," said the woman in a daze. Harry realised that he had slightly overpowered the Compulsion, but it would work in his favour. She opened up the side door, and brought them to another room, where two confused dentists were staring at the intrusion. They had obviously just finished some paperwork. "You will go back out to the office and continue your day like normal. You will forget that you ever saw us."

"I will leave you and forget," said the secretary as she walked back out of the room.

"What was that all about?" asked the female dentist, who didn't know that her name was Emma Granger. "And who are you lot?"

"I'm Harry Potter, this is Hermione, and I am really sorry."

"You're really sorry? About wha..."

Emma's words were cut off, as a red beam of light struck her and her husband, and they fell unconscious. When they reawakened, it felt like memories were flooding back, and other memories suppressed.

"Hermione?" asked Emma Granger groggily. "Is that you?"

"It is, mum," said Hermione.

"What the hell did you do to us?" asked Dan Granger, waking up. "I mean, one minute, I was watching the bloody footie match, and then I'm here. And it's almost like I have a different set of memories for the last year or so."

"Might we discuss this at your house?" asked Harry. "Where there are no witnesses."

"And where might that be?" asked Dan. "Our real memories are overwriting our fake ones."

"Suppressing them, is more of a correct term," said Hermione. She pulled the folder of documents out of her bag. The Grangers gasped as they saw her take an envelope out of a bag that was much too small.

"You live here in Paddington, at 209 Underwood Street," said Harry. "We have the details. Don't worry, you'll remember everything quite soon."

"We took out a bloody mortgage on that house!" exclaimed Emma, remembering. She grabbed the directions sheet. "I'll take this to the copier."

"No need," said Harry, waving his wand to duplicate the document. They gathered their things, and left the office, making sure that the secretary knew to close up. They went out to the parking lot.

"Nice car," said Dan as they approached the hire car. "I have a BMW as well."

Dan walked over to his car, which was a newer model, with more features. Within a couple of minutes, they were at their house.

"So can you explain everything?" asked Dan. "I mean, yesterday, I thought I was a dentist without a daughter."

"I'm sorry, but you knew too much," said Hermione. "About me and by extension, Harry. It wasn't safe for you in Britain."

Hermione and Harry told them the reasons for what happened.

"So you beat this Lord Voldemort?" asked Emma.

"From a certain point of view, he defeated himself," said Harry. "Our spells connected, and his spell reflected back on him. It was certainly a unique occurrence: I'm not sure that anyone will ever be able to recreate the circumstances again."

"And what did you do to our poor secretary?" asked Dan.

"Just a mild compulsion charm," said Harry. "It should wear off in a while."

"Like a Jedi mind trick?"

"Exactly like a Jedi mind trick," replied Hermione.

"Why Australia?" asked Emma. "And how the hell did we get past Customs without visas or anything? Or with forged documents."

"I got your passports through our bank," said Hermione. "They're magical passports, so you were picked up by the Aurors instead of Customs. The Aurors got you Leave-to-Remain here, and sorted all your documents. They then assigned Roo-watchers to protect you."

"Roo-watchers?"

"Apparently, Kangaroos are magical, and one of the Australian Aurors jobs is to keep that fact away from the Muggles. Every animal you find in Australia is either poisonous, magical or both," explained Hermione. "As to why I chose Australia, there's good weather here, they speak English, and they're Commonwealth."

"Why don't we go find something to eat?" suggested Harry. "It'll be on my dollar."

The women went upstairs to change their clothes. Dan sat across from Harry.

"So, Harry," he said with a predatory look. "What are your intentions towards Hermione?"

"I plan to ask her to marry me sometime soon," said Harry. "I genuinely love her."

"Can you provide for her?"

"My bank balance could be used for a phone number," said Harry. Dan looked at Harry in shock. "With the 20 on it, so ten digits."

"In pounds, dollars, rupees?"

"In Galleons," said Harry. "A ten digit number of rupees would only be £100 million. My bank balance is closer to £10000 million, accumulating a fair amount of interest."

"And does your lifestyle support that?"

"Of course it does,"

"You do realise that if you hurt her that I'll have to hurt you," threatened Dan. "Although, for the life of me, I can't think what I could threaten you with."

The ladies came back a minute later. "Have a nice chat?" asked Emma.

"Dad, you seriously did not threaten Harry, did you?" asked Hermione.

\\\/

"What do you want to eat?" asked Daniel Granger. "There's Japanese, or Italian—lots of Italian here. If we go to Surry Hills, there's a good American place with some of the best BBQ I've ever had."

"How far is Surry Hills?" asked Hermione. "It's been a heck of a long day."

"About 10 minutes away," said Emma. "Maybe 15 if there's traffic."

They decided on the BBQ place, where they had meat products of all descriptions. They sat at the high bar-style tables, and received plates American-style of food, complete with frites, coleslaw, and Mac 'n' Cheese.

"I'd advise us all to go to bed a little early tonight," said Hermione as they were eating. She realised that her body was very not used to eating this type of food. "Your brains are still rebooting, and we just had a heck of a flight."

"Did you get a lot of sleep on the plane?" asked Emma.

"Not much," admitted Hermione. "We're not used to that. We've not been sleeping well the last year."

After they were finished eating, they went back to the Granger's house. "What are your plans now?" asked Emma.

"In all honesty, I could do what the Australian Government was accusing me of doing," said Harry. "That is, move here, and forget Britain."

"I know that it would be nice to stay here," said Hermione. "But we really should go home and see everyone. It's where all of our things are. What do you plan to do?"

"Although it's been nice here, I think that we should go home," said Emma. "There's a dentist finishing up his practicals at the University of Sydney. We could see the practise to him."

"And sell the house," said Daniel. "Where are you two going to sleep?"

In response, Hermione put her wand in her bag, and a very familiar tent emerged. Another wave of her wand, and the tent put itself up in the middle of the living room.

"It doesn't look like one of you would fit, let alone two," said Daniel. Hermione motioned towards the opening. Daniel put his head in the tent and then pulled it back out, walked around the tent, and then went back into the tent. He put his head through the flap. "It's bigger on the inside!" he exclaimed.

Hermione had been mouthing the words with him, and started to laugh.

"Is it?" asked Harry, grinning. "I never noticed."

He then completely broke down in laughter, as did the rest of them.

Harry and Hermione went to the Government Building to make sure they had clearance to stay a couple of weeks, and were told that as long as they were out before six months were up, they were good to stay.

"What about our things back home?" asked Emma as they were packing up a year's worth of belongings. "And our house?"

"Our belongings are all safe at the bank," said Hermione. She'd checked, and there had fortunately been no damage to vaults at Gringotts. "The house should be in good condition."

"Should be?" asked Daniel.

"Or you could move in with us," offered Harry. "We bought a house in Crawley just before we came here. You could stay with us until we can ascertain the condition of your home. Luna is taking care of our home now."

"Luna?" asked Emma. "The crazy girl that you used to talk about?"

"She's not crazy," said Hermione. "I understand her. She just sees the world differently than the rest of us."

Within a week, they arranged for their belongings to be shipped to Britain, and for tickets on Qantas back to Britain. It cost a lot of money, but Harry knew that he was good for it. Just under $30,000 for the tickets, and another couple of thousand to ship their belongings home. He knew that Her Majesty's Customs Enforcement would be on his case for another £5000 or so in duty fees.

"This was fun," said Hermione when they touched down in London. "I almost wish we could've stayed."

"Want me to arrange for ILR in Australia?" asked Harry. "Think about it: we could live there just under six months, and live here for six months. Maybe we can design a plane that has a longer range and speed while we're at it, too."

"Unfortunately, none of us know the first thing about engineering," said Emma.

Hermione put up her hand sheepishly. "I've read all sorts of things," she said.

"Maybe if we use some magical materials," mused Harry. "And some cloaking charms or whatnot, so that certain governments wouldn't be able to ground our plane for not being certified."

"You'd need to train pilots, Harry," Hermione said. "Therefore, the plane would have to be of a design that they recognised."

"Well, that makes things a lot harder," said Harry. "Even if I could do that, we'd probably have to find enough Squibs to crew and captain the plane. I wouldn't know the first thing about trying to find them."

''So what do you want to do now?" asked Emma. "I mean, in the long-term?"

"Settle down and have a family," said Harry. Hermione nodded. "Other than that, I have no clue. I wasn't planning on surviving this long."

\\\/

It was on 1 September that Harry asked Hermione to marry him. Over the past couple of months, they'd been taking tours of Britain, and generally just having a good time. They'd visited the Weasleys a number of times, and had found the household to be much more somber than usual. Harry and Hermione had to step in, as they realised that George was very suicidal after the death of his twin.

They eventually got him working with Weasley's Wizard Wheezes again, and Harry was coming up with some great ideas. Hermione, Luna, and Ron were as well.

They'd also found Luna in a sombre state, as her father had died of complications from his injuries at the hands of the Death Eaters. Luna ended up being a frequent visitor at the Potter-Granger household, becoming an unofficial member herself.

It was on the night of 1 September that Harry and Hermione went out to dinner together. After they'd finished their main course, Harry got down on one knee and proposed. Hermione naturally said yes. They got married in a relatively small ceremony on Halloween—only a couple of people showed up, as Harry and Hermione had been keeping the date secret. The only people that attended were the ones who could keep their mouths shut.

Interestingly, the Australian Minister and the British Minister both attended the ceremony, although Harry had to threaten Kingsley so as not to make it a State Function.

Both Harry and Hermione eventually made it back to Hogwarts, this time as professors. They quickly became some of the most loved professors at the school: Harry made Defence Against the Dark Arts both fun and informative, and Hermione did the same for Muggle Studies and Ancient Runes. With Voldemort out of the way, there was no longer a curse on the DADA class.

Over the years, Harry and Hermione had three children: James Sirius, Daniel Charles, and Lily Ariana Potter. Each time that Hermione was pregnant, the newspapers claimed that the next child would be named Albus Severus, but Harry would never inflict one of his children with the initials ASP. Luna, who still lived with the Potters, was never romantically linked to anyone officially, but continued to live with the Potters whilst running _The Quibbler_ and acting as a live-in nanny/babysitter/housesitter.

In between taking care of the children and teaching at Hogwarts, Harry had unfortunately never been able to design that airplane he'd thought of.

\\\/

"Why do we have to come all the way to London when we were already at Hogwarts?" complained Lily, as they went to King's Cross so that she could take the _Express _for the first time.

"Because it's tradition Lily," responded her mother. "You know that I met your father for the first time on the _Express."_

"Mummy, what if I get into Slytherin?" Lily asked Hermione.

"Slytherin will get a very bright girl then," said Hermione. "You should be happy with any House you get. You can tell the Hat which House you want to be in, though. It almost put me in Ravenclaw."

"And it almost put me in Slytherin," said Harry, hearing their conversation and leaning down to his daughter's level. "Even if you had been a Squib, we would still love you the same. We'll be proud of you, no matter which House you get into."

Lily smiled and hugged her parents before getting onto the train. She saw another one of her friends, and waved to her.

"The children are on the train," said Harry.

"I can't believe how big their getting," said Hermione. "It seems only yesterday that Lily was still in nappies. We should get back to the school to get ready for the school year."

They waited until the train had left and then Apparated back to Hogwarts. Harry caught a glimpse of his scar as they passed by a mirror. Sometimes, he almost forgot that it was there. It hadn't pained him for many years. All was well.

A/N: most of the details of the flight are based on modern routes (i.e. 2018): The Emirates 6 from London to Dubai, and Emirates 412 from Dubai to Sydney. The real-life flight is on an Airbus 380.

I also have no clue what is available in an Airport Lounge, as I am neither a special member of an airline group nor have I ever bought a first-class ticket (I certainly don't have £16,000 to spend on air travel!)

If the Minister sounds offensive, PM me with a correction or forget about it

(Notice that this work is written using Australian spellings)


End file.
